With the state of health insurance in the US, adding critical illness insurance plans to your term insurance plans could be the difference between paying your bills and declaring bankruptcy. Preparing for the worst allows you to hope for the best when the time comes and with critical illness coverage, you can rest assured that you will be protected if you ever need it.
What is Critical Illness Insurance
Critical illness insurance covers health emergencies that are often too big for typical health insurance. Think of it like heart & cancer insurance, as cancer and heart problems cost more than standard health insurance will cover, so these problems often bring families to financial ruin. When you add critical illness insurance to your term plan, then there is no need to worry about financial problems as a result of heart attacks, cancer, or strokes.
Why You Need Critical Illness Insurance
- Health Savings Accounts
Many families are using their Health Savings Accounts (HSA) to help reduce the cost of health insurance. While an HSA can reduce some of the costs that come with health care, families are not filling their HSAs with thousands of dollars. So, if someone in the family suffers from a heart attack or a stroke, the HSA would be emptied quickly.
- High Deductibles
High-deductible health care plans are smart for families that do not want to have large monthly payments. Families often succeed with the high-deductible plans because they never have to pay their deductibles all at once. Some families get through the whole year without having to pay their full deductible.
But, if a catastrophic illness were to strike, paying the high deductible could become problematic. Since many families live pay check to pay check, having to pay a massive deductible all at once would devastate their budgets. With a critical illness benefit, the deductible of your health care would not be an issue.
- Covering additional cost-of-living expenses
One of the best things about critical illness insurance is that the benefits cover more than just health care. Many families need help with transportation and child care and the benefit can be customized to cover those necessities. In many policies, coverage is paid in one lump sum, which can be used to pay for issues created by the illness.
Some people will use their critical illness insurance to pay for their health care, but some will use it for daily living expenses, too. They might pay for medical services that traditional health insurance might not cover. Some people use it to retrofit their cars so they can use their wheelchairs. And, some people, especially terminal patients, use their policies to take restful bucket-list vacations.
- You are young.
Critical illness benefits vary based on age, gender, and family histories, so if you are older, you might not be able to get this type of insurance. But, if you are young, you should be able to get an affordable policy that will protect your family if anything happens to you. No one wants to leave their families to suffer, especially if that suffering begins at a young age and to a young family.
